Day: December 11, 2024

Categories
Ads Regulations and Restrictions

Advertising Placement Qualifications 101: Automotive Industry

Driving

In today’s digital marketing era, the automotive industry, as a vital pillar of the national economy, has seen increased attention on its advertising strategies and qualification requirements. Whether it’s automobile manufacturers, parts suppliers, or dealerships and service providers, all aim to attract potential customers through precise advertising. However, the qualification requirements and ad space in the Tencent ecosystem faced by automotive industry enterprises in different segments vary. This article will provide a detailed interpretation of the qualifications required in various segments of the automotive industry for advertising, as well as the traffic platforms available for placement, helping you better plan your advertising strategy and achieve marketing goals.

Automobile Manufacturers – Joint Venture

●Industry Description: Manufacturers of automobile brands established by Chinese and foreign investors.

●Industry Qualifications: “Road Motor Vehicle Production Enterprise License” or a screenshot from the public information system of road motor vehicle production enterprises and products.

● Business Scope Qualifications:
1. For involvement in car rental services, a “Road Transport Operating License,” “Car Rental Business License,” or a car rental business filing certificate is required.
2. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in the Tencent Ecosystem
Ads can be placed on Tencent News, Tencent Video, Tencent Video Clips, QQ, Tencent Music and Games, WeChat Public Accounts and Mini Programs, WeChat Moments, Youliang Hui, PC QQ, QQ Space, and Tencent Music.
●Personal Account Opening: No

Source: Qiantu, licensed for commercial use

Automobile Manufacturers – Independent

●Industry Description: Manufacturers of automobile brands independently developed by Chinese entities with proprietary intellectual property rights.

●Industry Qualifications: Same as Joint Venture.

●Business Scope Qualifications: Same as Joint Venture.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

Automobile Manufacturers – Foreign Invested

●Industry Description: Foreign automobile manufacturers or import car manufacturers.

●Industry Qualifications: Same as Joint Venture.

●Business Scope Qualifications: Same as Joint Venture.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

Special Purpose Vehicle Manufacturers

●Industry Description: Manufacturers producing non-tracked vehicles and specialized fittings for internal enterprise use, including loading, unloading, stacking, short-distance transportation, towing, and pushing operations.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. For special equipment manufacturing, a special equipment production unit permit is required.
2. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in the Tencent Ecosystem
Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

Motorcycle and Moped Manufacturers

●Industry Description: Manufacturers and distributors of motorcycles, mopeds (including electric vehicles), and their spare parts.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. If producing road motor vehicles, a road motor vehicle production permit is required.
2. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

Automobile Parts

●Industry Description: Manufacturers and distributors of automobile parts and spare parts.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. For child safety seats or driving recorders, a “China Compulsory Certification” (CCC certificate) is required.
2. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: Yes, a “Self-Employed Business License” or “Business License” (e-commerce license for individual industrial and commercial households) is required.

Source: Qiantu, licensed for commercial use

Automotive Maintenance Products

●Industry Description: Manufacturers and distributors of various maintenance products used in automotive maintenance, such as engine oil and windshield washer fluid.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications: For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: Yes, a “Self-Employed Business License” or “Business License” (e-commerce license for individual industrial and commercial households) is required.

Automotive Decorations

●Industry Description: Manufacturers and distributors of various decorative items used for automotive decoration.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications: For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: Yes, a “Self-Employed Business License” or “Business License” (e-commerce license for individual industrial and commercial households) is required.

Automot

Source: Qiantu, licensed for commercial use

Automotive 4S Shops/Dealers

●Industry Description: Automotive dealers or 4S shops providing integrated services including Sales, spare parts, Services, and Surveys.

●Industry Qualifications: Brand authorization from the automobile manufacturer is required.

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. For involvement in car rental services, a “Road Transport Operating License,” “Car Rental Business License,” or a car rental business filing certificate is required.
2. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

 

Motorcycle and Moped Sales and Stores

●Industry Description: Physical stores engaged in the sale and distribution of motorcycles and mopeds.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications: For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: Yes, a “Self-Employed Business License” is required.

Used Car Dealers

●Industry Description: Business entities providing various vehicle services such as appraisal, acquisition, rental, and sale of used cars.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. For used car auction institutions, an “Auction Business Approval Certificate” is required.
2. For used car trading markets or used car business entities (including used car distribution, brokerage, appraisal, etc.), a record with the commercial department for used car trading markets or operators is required.
3. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: Yes, a “Self-Employed Business License” is required.

Vehicle Maintenance Services

●Industry Description: Business entities providing services such as vehicle cleaning and maintenance. Vehicle maintenance refers to the process of using specialized care materials and products tailored to the different maintenance requirements of various parts of a vehicle.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. For involvement in vehicle repair, a “Motor Vehicle Repair Record” or “Road Transport Operating License” is required.
2. For vehicle training or accompaniment, a “Road Transport Operating License” is required.
3. For vehicle inspection, an “Inspection and Testing Institution Qualification Certificate” is required.
4. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: Yes, a “Self-Employed Business License” or “Business License” (e-commerce license for individual industrial and commercial households) is required.

Driving Schools

●Industry Description: Business entities with certain qualifications that train drivers according to the outline of motor vehicle driver quality education.

●Industry Qualifications: “Road Transport Operating License,” with the scope of operations specifying “General Motor Vehicle Driver Training” or a record certificate for motor vehicle driving schools or training classes.

●Business Scope Qualifications: For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

Automotive Comprehensive Service Platforms

●Industry Description: Platforms providing automotive-related information and data services.

●Industry Qualifications: None

●Business Scope Qualifications:
1. If the platform is engaged in operational business or involves third-party merchants, a “Value-added Telecommunications Business License” (B21 E-commerce Services) is required.
2. If the website is for self-operated sales of goods/services, a “Value-added Telecommunications Business License” (B21 E-commerce Services) or app screenshots from App Store/Apple Store is required.
3. For cooperation with third parties or promotion of products not owned by the account-opening enterprise, a “Brand Authorization Letter” or related cooperation agreement, sales agreement, or authorization letter is required.

●Ad Space in Tencent Ecosystem: Same as the Joint Venture.

●Personal Account Opening: No

The automotive industry has significant differences in the qualifications required and traffic platforms available for advertising across different segments. Automobile manufacturers (including joint ventures, independents, and foreign investments) and special purpose vehicle manufacturers usually need to provide qualifications such as the “Road Motor Vehicle Production Enterprise License” and do not support individual account openings; whereas segments like automobile parts, automotive maintenance products, and automotive decorations may not require specific industry qualifications and support individual account openings. Additionally, various automobile dealers, service providers, and comprehensive service platforms also need to provide corresponding business scope qualifications based on specific circumstances. It is recommended that automotive industry enterprises fully understand and prepare the required qualification documents before advertising, and combine the characteristics and advantages of each traffic platform to develop a scientific and reasonable advertising strategy. Only in this way can they stand out in fierce market competition and maximize marketing effectiveness.

Categories
Ads Regulations and Restrictions

Prohibited Products for Promotion under Chinese Laws and Regulations：A Guide to Navigating the Regulatory Landscape

Each country has its own social environment and standards for different industries vary accordingly. In China, there are clear restrictions on the industries involved in advertising and promotion. Especially for the following 55 industries listed, Chinese laws and regulations have explicit prohibitions against promoting these industries through advertising.

01 Drug-Related Items

This category encompasses all types of illicit drugs, chemicals that can be synthesized into drugs, raw materials for drug production, and literature on drug manufacturing.

02 Gambling Prohibitions

We’re putting all bets off on gambling. It’s forbidden to use money or property as stakes in gambling, as well as providing venues, funds, tools, or facilitating gambling activities through products and services.Gambling Tools: Think slot machines and dice games—no luck here.

  • Gambling Information and Software: This includes illegal gambling information, communities, software, and betting apps.
  • Gambling Products: Unlawful gambling products such as Mark Six lotteries and other lottery types not approved for sale in Mainland China.
  • Gambling Techniques: Ads that teach gambling tactics like card sharking and cheating methods are off the table.
  • Cheating Devices: Devices like see-through glasses, card changers, and other cheating tools are strictly prohibited.
  • Gambling Products: Products suspected of being gambling-related, such as “one-yuan purchase” schemes.
  • Gambling on Raw Stones: The act of gambling by selling rough stones is banned.
  • Others: Hotels or scenic spots that offer casino gambling services are not allowed.

03 Religious Matters

  • Spreading the word about religious activities and content is a no-go zone.
  • Selling religious items under the guise of religion is also prohibited.

04 Pyramid Schemes

The allure of quick riches through recruitment or by charging fees for membership is an illegal path we advise against.

05 Superstition and Fortune-Telling

Products or services for fortune-telling, divination, Feng Shui, and other superstitious practices, along with claims of improving luck or human capabilities, are banned.

06 Fraudulent Websites

  • Imitating financial institutions like banks, funds, securities, and trusts is a scam that won’t stand.
  • Posting job ads for fake reputation farming on online stores is also prohibited.
  • Illegal sales of items like Sinopec fuel cards, Q coins, and other virtual cards, along with providing illegal phone top-up services, are forbidden.

07 Special Diseases

  • No advertising is allowed for diseases that the state has paused medical advertising for: genital warts, syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, psoriasis, AIDS, cancer, epilepsy, hepatitis B, vitiligo, lupus.
  • Professional jargon related to these diseases, such as HBV, “big three yang,” “small three yang turning negative,” and “two pairs and a half,” is also banned in advertisements.

08 Special Medications and Medical Devices

  • A strict ban on narcotics, psychotropic substances, toxic medical drugs, radioactive drugs, drug-like precursor chemicals, prescription drugs, specific total nutrition formula foods for special medical purposes, infant formulas for special medical use, and drugs and medical devices for drug addiction treatment.
  • Military-specific drugs and preparations made by military medical institutions.
  • Medicinal preparations made by medical institutions.
  • Any drugs, medical devices, health foods, and special medical formula foods that are legally stopped or banned from production, sale, or use.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash 

09 Medical Intermediary Services

Offering domestic registration services or overseas medical intermediary services for a fee is prohibited.

10 Cultural Relics and Literary Works

  • Counterfeit commemorative coins and replicas of famous artworks are not to be advertised.
  • Exempted are antique stores and auction companies with the appropriate legal qualifications.

11 Illegal Stamp Trading

Legal stamps (including common and commemorative stamps) can be exchanged and traded.The following activities are banned as per Article 25 of the “Philatelic Market Management Measures”: Trading in counterfeit or altered postage vouchers.

  • Trading in stamps prohibited from circulation by the state.
  • Trading in stamps issued by the Taiwan region after October 1, 1949.
  • Trading in stamps without indicated issuing entity information.
  • Trading in stamps with counterfeit or imitation stamp patterns not in accordance with national regulations.
  • Trading in stamps with obviously false information.
  • Trading in stamps imported without authorization.
  • Producing or selling stamps under someone else’s name without permission.
  • Any other business activities that violate relevant national regulations.

12 Circulating RMB

Without the approval of the People’s Bank of China, no unit or individual may bind or operate bound circulating RMB, including RMB of special years and misprinted RMB.

13 Bills

  • Including various types of invoices, financial bills, etc.
  • Including issuing and selling real and fake invoices on behalf of others.
  • Except for the case of transfer for the purpose of collection without validity and circulation.

14 Fake certificate and seal services

Providing illegal services such as processing false certificates and privately engraved official seals.

15 Illegal network public relations

Illegal network water army, network promoters, flooding companies, post deletion companies, soft article marketing, e-commerce order brushing, etc.

16 Illegal network technology and equipment

  • Using illegal network technology to break through network restrictions, infringe on the privacy and property of others, or disrupt the normal operation order of Internet platforms, including: “over the wall” service, “over the wall” software, game plug-ins, dual-opening software, jailbreak software, etc.
  • Equipment for inserting phone cards in batches.
  • Equipment and software with functions such as changing the caller number, virtual dialing, and illegal access of Internet phones to the public telecommunications network.
  • Automatic switching systems for batch accounts and network addresses, platforms for batch receiving SMS verification and voice verification.
  • Other equipment and software used to commit crimes such as telecommunications network fraud.

17 Illegal debt collection

Illegal provision of services or consulting content related to debt repayment, debt arrears, and debt collection.

18 Vehicle formalities agency

  • Violation of traffic rules and points, agency service or content for car purchase quotas.
  • Providing transaction services or information such as leasing, selling, and transferring of vehicle license plates and lottery quotas.
  • Providing illegal vehicle-related services or information such as scrapping without a car, transferring ownership without a car, annual inspection without a car, and collecting points for driver’s licenses.

19 Personal business agency

  • Agency for personal certificates, agency for social security payment, agency for housing provident fund payment, agency/consultation for points-based settlement, etc.
  • Scalper proxy photography and proxy photography business.

20 Certificate affiliation/leasing

“Certificate affiliation”, “certificate affiliation” and any qualification certificate, administrative license, identity document leasing, lending, and transfer services, etc.

21 Foreign Recruitment

Provide jobs for foreign personnel, recruit foreign personnel, recruit foreign volunteers, etc.

22 Firearms, Ammunition and Other Weapons

  • Includes various types of firearms, ammunition and related equipment, such as firearms, firearm imitations (such as imitation guns), bullets (cannons), silencers, gunpowder, instructions, packaging boxes, etc.
  • Other weapons: crossbows, slingshots, steel balls, lead balls, real machines, real bullets, etc.

23 Security, police and military equipment

  • Security equipment refers to security and defense equipment including but not limited to electric shocks, strong lights, tear gas, etc.
  • Police and military equipment refers to police and military equipment including but not limited to police uniforms, police badges, handcuffs, police lights, sirens, stun guns, etc.

Photo by Siarhei Horbach on Unsplash

24 Cult Organizations

Illegal organizations that endanger society, such as Falun Gong, the Church of Almighty God, Voodoo, etc.

25 Government Documents

Various certificates and documents issued by the government, such as identity cards, files, various licenses, etc.

26 Illegal Publications and Film and Television Works

Illegal books, film and television works include, but are not limited to:

  • Obscene and Pornographic Materials : This includes any publications or films that are vulgar or sexually explicit, such as adult magazines, videos, and adult videos (AV).
  • Materials Harmful to Social Stability : Publications or films that undermine social stability, damage national unity, or disrupt ethnic solidarity.
  • Publications with Discriminatory Content : Any materials containing racial or religious discrimination or other content that violates laws and regulations.

27 Protection of Wild Flora and Fauna

  • Wildlife : Under national regulations, no trade or publication is allowed for wild animals, world/national protected species, endangered animals, their organs, any body parts, fur, specimens, or any products made from them, such as ivory and tortoiseshell products.
  • Wild Plants : Any plants listed in the world/national protected species list and prohibited from sale by law, or plant products.

28 Illegal Sexual Products

Such as illegal aphrodisiacs and similar products.

29 Dangerous Goods

  • Flammable and Explosive Materials : Including raw materials for their production.
  • Toxic and Corrosive Chemicals : Along with their raw materials.
  • Fireworks and Firecrackers : And devices for setting off fireworks and firecrackers.
  • Publications and Videos on Explosives : Materials that instruct on making explosives.

30 Regulated Knives

Knives that violate national controlled knife standards, such as daggers, three-edged knives (including those used for mechanical processing), switchblades with self-locking mechanisms, and other similar single-edged, double-edged, or three-edged sharp knives.

31 Illegally Obtained Goods

Goods obtained through smuggling, theft, or robbery.

32 Tobacco Products

Cigarettes, cigarette packs, cigarette labels, electronic cigarettes, and smoking cessation products.

33 Prohibited Food Items

  • Betel nut and its products.
  • Infant formula dairy products for babies aged 0-12 months (ie, stage 1 and stage 2).

34 Illegal Cash Advances

  • Services such as agent extraction of housing provident funds, social security, and credit card cash advances.
  • Cash advances using POS machines, card swiping rebates.
  • Credit card cash advances and credit card repayments on behalf of others.

35 Banned Advertising and Promotion

  • Crude oil and crude oil derivatives.
  • POS machine sales.
  • Private equity funds; private financial products.
  • IoT (Internet of Things) cards.

36 Non-compliant Loan Services

Such as campus loans, student loans, down payment loans, cosmetic loans, etc.

37 Non-compliant Securities Services

  • Stock recommendations, stock financing, stock leverage.
  • Trading of Hong Kong and US stocks.

38 Illegal Fundraising Activities

Illegally absorbing public deposits or disguised forms of public deposits, and illegal fundraising activities with the purpose of illegal possession using fraudulent methods.

39 Non-compliant Bank Card and Account Services

Copying/cracking or recycling of bank cards, handling of bank cards through non-bank official websites, handling of bank statements, buying and selling of bank accounts (bank cards), etc.

40 Products Infringing on Intellectual Property Rights

  • Trademark and Patent Infringements : Counterfeit and copycat products.
  • Copyright Infringements : Unauthorized films, television shows, software programs, websites, etc.
  • Private Servers and Cheats : Private servers refer to the unauthorized establishment of network servers after illegally obtaining server installation programs. Cheats refer to programs that use computer technology to alter parts of one or several online games to create cheating software.
  • Other Violations: Unlawful sales of gaming equipment from other manufacturers, impersonation of official game websites, and establishment of phishing websites.

41 Tax Evasion Products

Goods that have not gone through proper import procedures, such as “grey market” products, “European water”, “Hong Kong water”, and similar items.

42 Illegal Signal Interception Products

Devices like TV sticks and signal receivers that illegally intercept television signals.

43 Products Infringing on Property Rights

  • Products for electricity theft or illegal electricity saving, such as power-saving devices.
  • Wi-Fi moochers, dialers, and similar devices.
  • Products with unclear charges, malicious billing, hidden billing programs, or any situation that harms consumer rights, or containing malicious programs for account theft or password theft.

44 Privacy Invasion Equipment:

  • Eaves dropping devices, hidden cameras, pinhole cameras, information interception (fax, SMS, phone interception), and other equipment that may violate privacy.
  • Products that infringe on personal information, including but not limited to directly providing personal phone numbers, email addresses, and software or products used for collecting or stealing personal information (such as phishing websites).
  • Products with tracking capabilities, such as GPS trackers.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

45 Non-compliant Motor Vehicles and Services

  • Cloned vehicles, smuggled vehicles, confiscated vehicles, illegal vehicles, unregistered vehicles, mortgaged vehicles, etc.
  • “Assembled motor vehicles”, “built motor vehicles”, or related service information.

46 Products Disrupting Traffic Safety

Products like radar detectors, electronic dogs, car concealment sprays, roll-up license plate frames, radar jammers, license plate covering devices, traffic signal changers, and similar items.

47 Prohibited Education and Training

  • Online advertisements for off-campus training for primary and secondary schools, kindergartens.
  • Franchise services for off-campus training for primary and secondary schools, kindergartens.

48 Exam and Thesis Fraud

Impersonating test takers, ghostwriting theses, etc.

49 Non-compliant Software Tools

  • Software advertised as making free calls (Note: Not instant communication tools, products that can directly make free calls without phone charges using certain means).
  • Military software.
  • Overseas marriage service software.

50 Political News

Political: Domestic and foreign military and political news, reactionary remarks, etc.

51 Illegal Game Agents

Merchants and regional privileged agents for special permissions in games (such as selling room cards).

52 Military Aircraft

Aircraft that directly participate in combat, support combat operations, and military training, such as fighter jets, bombers, special operations aircraft, etc.

53 Non-compliant Real Estate Business

  • Types of real estate transactions: Real estate and land not normally sold or not qualified for listing, such as small property rights, account-settlement houses, land transactions, property exchange for old, mortgaged houses, etc.
  • Real estate peripheral business: Beyond the normal living and use functions of real estate, emphasizing financing, investment, medical services, including real estate investment or investment lectures, financing or disguised financing content, medical services, housing for the elderly, real estate investment immigration, etc.

54 Illegal Fishing Products

Electric fishing devices, sail nets, ground cages, beach seines, net cages, dense mesh screens, towed pump suction rakes, and other fishing gear.

55 Other Illegal and Non-compliant Products and Services

  • Surrogacy, drug testing, fetal gender determination services.
  • Human organs, remains, animal carcasses, etc.
  • Advertisements for car decoders, master keys, and other technologies that can be used for criminal activities.
  • Private detectives.
  • Medicated cosmetics.
  • Medical waste.
  • Products for reducing or limiting the speed of bicycles.
  • Online part-time fraud (such as typists, data entry clerks), personal manual processing fraud (such as wormwood processing, manual beading), etc.
  • Others.

Source of featured image: Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Categories
Advertising Ecosystem

A Glance at Programmatic Ad Ecosystem in China: the Tree Theory

As a significant market, China is a resourceful market for international brands to enter. At the initial stage of market entry, outbound marketing, such as advertising, could be a good choice. For those who have already established brand awareness in China, advertising remains essential for market penetration. This article will explain how Chinese ad ecosystem works.

01 Ad Category: Programmatic Ad is the mainstream with more complexity

According to Emarketer, 4 years ago, programmatic ads account for a significant 44% share of China’s digital ad market. Additionally, with more stakeholders engaged in the context of programmatic advertising, we believe that the introduction of programmatic ad ecosystem in China will help you better understand Chinese ad environment.

02 Composition of Programmatic Ad Ecosystem in China

An outline of the stakeholders in Chinese programmatic ad ecosystem could make it easier to get the whole picture. Brands, companies, or even individuals who wish to pay for advertisements aimed at attracting target audience are advertisers. In that course, DSP/ADN and Trading Desk are tools in the demand side; while ADX/SSP are platforms on the supply side, which serve media or publishers who have the final say over traffic and ad inventory. Data platforms such as DMP will collect and provide data for the publish of ads as well as connect the audience and advertiser someway.

The programmatic ad ecosystem in China works like a tree. Advertisors are the root because of their products and services hidding behind the ads are the fundamental factor of purchasing. And advertisors will make the final decision of what messages shall be communicated in their ads, by what means, in what places. Other stakeholders or tools such as ad agencies, DSP/TD, AdX/SSP, ADN, are functioning as the trunk that brings the “nutrition” ads all the way up to the branches “media owner” or “publisher”, so that the audience as the leaves will be reached and feel the commitment and value of the advertisors’ brands.

03 Key Players of Programmatic Ad Ecosystem

In China, the basic logic of advertisement is the same. Within the ecosystem, we got three key players as advertiser, publisher and the audience. The advertiser would like to convey message to their target audience via the impressions on publisher. And that’s what advertisement will achieve.

As the bridge to connect advertiser and the audience, media/publisher controls the ending ad inventory, which could be the most important resource in advertisement. In China, the leading comprehensive publisher includes: ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Kuaishou, Meituan, Jingdong, Pinduoduo (Temu), Xiaomi, Weibo, etc.

With the booming of publisher’s quantity and categories, Ad Network (ADN) came up to the ad ecosystem, which purchases ad inventories from different publisher and sell to advertisers or ad agencies.

Some advertisers, especially those leading enterprises would like to invite another role in during advertising: advertising agencies. Some of the most popular and influential advertising agencies in China include: Ogilvy, WPP, Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe, BBDO, BlueFocus, etc. You might be quite familiar with some of them.

04 Platforms to Collect and Communicate Ad Demands

Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

For both the advertiser and ad agency, DSP (Demand-Side Platform) is a must in conducting programmatic ad. DSP provides real-time bidding services and algorithm & AI capabilities to enable automated buying and selling of ad inventory, so that advertisers and agencies could efficiently manage their advertising campaigns, such as audience targeting, budget management, bidding management, creative management, etc. The AI and algorithm embedding in DSPs will make all those actions above more agile, precise and accurate.

The more inventories a DSP covers, the more powerful and efficient it is. YOYI Tech, which has focused on AdTech in China for over 10 years, has developed a DSP that integrates 80% publisher inventories across Chinese internet, with full coverage of mainstream CTV inventories as well as rich Ad formats within different media touchpoints, will accelerate market penetration in China and precisely reach your target audience at a lower cost, as well as enhance your advertising strategy with data-driven insights.

Trading Desk (TD)

A trading desk integrates different DSPs and can manage advertising in a comprehensive manner, .which often handle more complex budget management and bidding frequency control, etc.

Here is a list of the different types of trading desks operating in China:

Agency Trading Desk (ATD): A trading desk within a 4A advertising agency serving multiple brand advertisers. Examples include Xaxis, Accuen, AOD, and Charm (昌荣）, etc.;

Independent Trading Desk (ITD): Similar to ATD, but ITDs can serve multiple advertising agencies or brands. Examples include YOYI Onedesk, Marketin, Chinapex, and Fugetech, etc.;

Brand Trading Desk (BTD): Typically, this is an in-house trading desk built by the advertiser themselves or with the help of a technology provider, such as Yili Trading Desk, etc.

05 Platforms to recieve demands and release ad inventory

Both supply-side platform (SSP) and Ad exchange (AdX) are essential to process ad demands from DSP and trigger ad impression.

A supply-side platform allows ad publishers to sell their inventory within an appropriate price range after the evaluation of advertisers, bidding prices, TA requirements, etc., so as to meet both publishers’ and advertisers’ needs.

Therotically, an AdX will connect DSP and SSP. However, nowadays the differences between SSP and AdX are so slight to take into account. Hence we would like to introduce you some representative platforms of SSP/ADX running in China:

The third-party SSP/AdX collects and reallocates traffic of all kinds (premium traffic, medium traffic, long-tail traffic, etc.) from media owners or publishers. Some examples can be: BES from Baidu, Tanx from Alibaba, Tencent AdX, 360 MAX, etc.

The examples of private AdX/SSP owned by media giant who has their own natural traffic are YOUKU AdX, AIQIYI AdX, Netease AdX, Sina AdX, etc.

06 Supportive Platform towards Agility of Advertising

Data Management Platform (DMP) generates tags for different audience segements and build user profiles and portraits based on user data, which would enhance the precision and efficiency of advertisement.

YOYI Tech creates a DMP that collects first-party user data from advisor-owned channels such as websites, apps, social medias, as well as second-party data from our own DSP and third-party data from our partners such as ecommerce giants, media, and agencies, etc. Moreover, YOYI DMP is open and ready to accept any other data sources and with our powerful ID mapping capability, our DMP will match household IDs with individual IDs and calculate user tags for various scenarios.

Source of featured image: Photo by Johann Siemens on Unsplash

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